Selling & Sales Management

Developing Skills for Success

Lisa Spiller

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781529765847
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Negocios y empresa
• Subtopic: Ventas

Packed with engaging examples and case studies from companies including Amazon, IBM, and Pepsi, as well as unique insights from sales professionals across the globe, this comprehensive textbook balances research, theory, and practice to guide students through the art and science of selling in a fast-changing and digital age. The text highlights the emerging role of storytelling, sales analytics and automation in a highly competitive and technological world, and includes exercises and role plays for students to practice as they learn about each stage of the selling process. As well as its focus on selling, the text also provides students with essential sales management skills such as onboarding, coaching, mentoring, and leading salespeople, as well as managing sales pipelines, territories, budgets, systems, and teams when not in the field. Online resources are included to help instructors teaching with the textbook, including PowerPoint slides and a testbank. Chapter overviews and teaching notes for the roleplays included in the text and suggested course projects and worksheets are also provided for instructors. Suitable for courses on selling and sales management at all college and university levels.

Section 1 The Foundations – ‘On the Ground’

1 Introducing Ethical Relationship Selling

Chapter Contents

• INTRODUCTION 6
• MODERN SELLING 6
  • Understanding the importance of relationships in selling 7
  • Employing ethical behavior in selling 10
  • Exploring different methods of selling 12
• THE SELLING PROCESS 16
  • Overviewing the stages of the selling process 18
  • Examining the functions in selling 21
• MONITORING METRICS 22
• CHAPTER SUMMARY 23
• KEY TERMS 24
• REVIEW QUESTIONS 24
• ETHICS IN ACTION 24
• EXERCISE 25
• READINGS AND RESOURCES 26
• CASE STUDY: Pharmaceutical Sales 26
• NOTES 28

People, Practices and Perspectives from the World of Sales

Greetings from Nashville, Tennessee. I’m Jack Aldridge, an enterprise account executive with Gartner. I’ve been with Gartner for seven years and my position responsibilities include consulting with C-level executives to develop and implement an effective, enterprise-wide strategy that maximizes the value delivered by Gartner’s products and services, as well as account management. My advice to you is to sell a product or service you genuinely believe in. One of my favorite quotes is: ‘Do the right things and great results will follow.’ (Gene Hall)

Hi, I’m Bruce Knight and I’ve spent 33 years working for pharmaceutical companies. I began as a sales associate and worked my way up to district sales manager with Sanofi. My advice to you is to never push your products on a customer. Find out their challenges and needs and truly try to help them fill their needs. The five most important words in selling are: How may I help you? My favorite quote is: ‘People are like ropes. If you push them, they go nowhere. But if you pull them along gently, they will follow you.’ (Author unknown)

My name is Michelle McKenna and I’m a new business sales manager with Open Sky Data Systems in Kildare, Ireland. My position entails seeking opportunities for new business (customers and partners). I’ve worked in a variety of sales positions for 16 years. I’d like to share this bit of advice with you: Understand your own values and drivers before applying to an organization – how will you be rewarded and recognized? Here’s a good quote for you: ‘A year from now you will wish you had started today.’ (Karen Lamb)

Don’t make a sale, create a customer!

Eyes on Ethics

Keep in mind the following ethical topics as you read through this chapter:

1. Reporting the details of sales encounters accurately.
2. Giving credit to another salesperson when leading a sales team.

Introduction

Everybody buys. Everybody sells. Everybody wants to feel satisfied and happy. But most people do not want to be ‘sold’ something. Let’s get this straight, this is a textbook about developing skills for successful selling and sales management, yet we are recognizing that people don’t like to be ‘sold’ stuff. Did you misread something? No, that’s correct! When people think about ‘being sold’ something, they associate that with being coerced, tricked, fooled, forced, pushed, or led into buying something that they don’t really need, want, or desire. That’s the bad rap that the sales profession may have earned decades ago, but it is not successful selling in today’s modern business world. Successful selling requires you to understand your customer’s and prospective customer’s needs before you begin any selling activities. There are new rules in selling now that include honesty and integrity, trustworthiness and dedication, and fulfilling the real needs of prospects and customers.¹ Sales ethics must be applied to ensure honesty, responsibility, and fairness in contemporary selling. That’s what we’ll address in this first chapter, as well as throughout the rest of this book. Let’s get started.

Modern Selling

Today’s modern selling still follows an ordered process which is aligned with the sales funnel (also called ‘sales cycle’), which is a graphic that shows that many prospective buyers enter the sales cycle as sales leads; fewer of these progress to prospects once their needs/wants are qualified; and even a smaller number convert to customers once they make the buying commitment (see Figure 1.1). We’ll examine the sales funnel more closely in Chapter 4. In addition, we’ll overview the stages of the selling process later in this chapter and cover each of them in great depth throughout the chapters of this book. Today’s selling process is enabled by digital tools and techniques that make the progression much more efficient, effective, and satisfying for both the buyer and the seller. Digital technology not only enables salespeople to more precisely target prospective buyers, but it empowers those buyers with information and education so that they remain in the driver’s seat. Indeed, the modern selling process has evolved over the decades into a rewarding and fulfilling activity for all parties involved.

Figure 1.1 Sales funnel

Understanding the importance of relationships in selling

Successful selling is not about what is sold or bought, it’s about satisfying people’s needs, wants, and desires. Selling is about solving people’s problems. They aren’t likely to let you do that unless you develop a good relationship with them and earn their trust. If you truly want to be a part of the problem-solving team, then you have to accept the problems of your customers or your prospective customers (also called ‘prospects’) as your problems. So, in essence, this is a book about how to communicate and really connect with other people, earn their respect and trust, and help to solve their problems by satisfying their needs, wants, and desires. Keep in mind that only relationships built in an ethical manner, with strong integrity will become productive and long term. We’ll address the crucial topic of ethics in greater detail later in this chapter, as well as throughout the entire book, but first, let’s explore the origins of selling.

Think back to the old days before the invention of modern machinery, communications systems, and modes of transportation beyond horses – that’s when selling actually began. Selling started in the form of bartering, where one entity would produce some goods or services of value and would exchange those for the valuable goods or services generated by another entity. These bartering exchanges would satisfy the needs or wants of each party and in the end, the problems of all of the entities would be solved. In those early days, all transactions occurred face to face, likely with the reputations of each individual well established and known by all who engaged in buying and selling exchanges. Back then, if you didn’t keep your word, nobody would trade with you. Thus, buying and selling began with the best intentions and integrity. Although our modern world has transformed the simple bartering exchange process, successful selling remains rooted in strong moral convictions and ethical practices.

Confident salesperson

Today’s selling is aided by sophisticated databases and analytical tools to help salespeople zero in on those prospective buyers who have a need, want, or problem with which the salesperson can assist. Digital, mobile, text, and social media have led many people to believe that in-person selling is passé – that personal contact is an antiquated notion. However, this is far from the truth. Person-to-person selling puts a friendly, human face on today’s digital business world. Think of it this way: a company may create the most brilliant marketing campaign, the cleverest advertisements, the catchiest tweets, and a ‘wow’ of a website to sell its excellent, need-satisfying products and services, but to land that client account or sell those products or services, its salespeople must come out from behind their desks or laptops and engage with real human beings on a meaningful level. That’s where personal selling kicks in.

Personal selling is the interpersonal communication between sellers and buyers or prospective buyers in the exchange of products, services, or something of value, to the mutual benefit of both parties. Personal selling is a feature of the traditional promotional encounter which may take place face to face, by telephone, or via digital channels, such as email, social media, and online conferencing.² Some people stereotypically think of personal selling as ‘the art of persuading people to buy.’³ While persuasion indeed is an important aspect of selling, it does not always lead to mutually satisfying relationships in the long run. Unfortunately, in the past, some overzealous salespeople have used their persuasive talents to be able to ‘make a sale’ in order to reach a designated sales quota determined by their sales manager. Those situations frequently lead to dissatisfied customers with zero repeat sales potential. Salespeople who are adept at convincing prospects to buy given products/services will only achieve long-term successful customer relationships if they ensure that the products/services being purchased will truly satisfy their customers’ needs/wants and solve their problems. Thus, while the ability to persuade is a good skill for salespeople to develop, it can be misused and detrimental when salespeople lack integrity.

Salesperson persuading a prospect

The golden rule in selling today is: Don’t make a sale, create a customer! Just think about what this saying implies – a sale is just one transaction, but a customer, once created, will potentially purchase from you and your company many times over the years, and if earned, become brand loyal to your company for a lifetime of patronage. Transactional selling, which is a form of selling that focuses solely on completing a deal, is rarely used in today’s business world. Rathe...